Reflection on John 10

John 10 records two discourses of Jesus. The first discourse was delivered after the religious leaders thrown the man born blind out of their synagogue. Instead of caring for the man as his spiritual shepherds, the religious leaders rejected him. So Jesus confronted them, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber." Jesus is the Gate. The religious leaders didn't accept Jesus into their hearts so they could never "enter the sheep pen by the gate". They were not shepherds but thieves and robbers, or false shepherds to be called.

John 10 painted a clear picture for a false shepherd. First, John said the false shepherd was a stranger to the true sheep of the Lord. There was no relationship between them. So the true sheep "will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." Jesus ensures His sheep, who are known, chosen and called by His Father, "will never follow a stranger". In the same way, we, as parents, should always make sure our own children will never follow a stranger physically and spiritually. We do warn our children never to follow a stranger on the street. We need to warn them more carefully not to follow any stranger on their spiritual journey.

Who are the strangers to the sheep? John says, "All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them." Actually, before and after Jesus' life on earth, many self-promoted prophets and self-proclaimed teachers appeared in the world. Their personal existence was never mentioned in the Scripture. But their evil deed was foretold in the Scripture. They "come only to steal and kill and destroy". Their way of "steal and kill and destroy" is usually sophisticated. They entertain people with the thought of other spiritual pathways or the validity of other religions, which do not recognize Jesus as the only Savior. When I write this, I cry out to our Lord, I ask Him to have mercy on one of my children who seems being influenced by those kinds of thought. I pray the Lord will open my child's spiritual sight to see this kind of entertainers are truly "thieves and robbers" so my child will run away from their entertainment, and my child will come to follow the true Shepherd.

John also says, "The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandoned the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. This man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep." I do wonder if any hired hand will sign a contract to agree to care for the sheep more than himself. I guess none. But the Lord will not allow a hired hand to have lasting impact on His sheep, His true followers. His followers need a true Shepherd, the good Shepherd. The Lord is the good Shepherd. Only He can and is willing to defend His sheep against the wolf.

When I read this part of the Scripture, sometimes, I wrongly make connection between the "hired hand" and some spiritual leaders. I confess my sinful thought to the Lord now and ask His forgiveness. The spiritual leaders at all levels need to be careful not to have a "hired hand" mentality when they serve the Lord's sheep. They do need to read this part of the Scripture carefully for themselves and take the warning seriously into their heart. But when I read this part of the Scripture, I need to read for myself. Actually, I need to read the whole Scripture carefully for myself first before I ever try to share with others. I need to have the Shepherd's heart to share any Scripture with others. When I do read this part of the Scripture for myself, I come to realization that I do have many opportunities to take care of the Lord's sheep as being a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a Sunday school teacher, and a youth counselor, a neighbor. Do I ever serve them with the attitude of a "hired hand"? Honestly speaking, I do that quite often. The attitude of a "hired hand" is characterized by putting self-interest above those under his or her care. This attitude is often my attitude even when I serve my own children. And being a mother is the most unselfish role I can claim. I have failed many times when I served others who were put under my care by the Lord. I failed Him. Lord, please forgive me and let me have less and less of a "hired hand" attitude when I serve others.

John 10 also draws the most beautiful portrait of the good Shepherd. "The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep". Jesus is the Gate; of course He enters by it. He came as the promises and prophecies of the Scripture said. So "the watchman opens the gate for Him" since the gatekeeper recognized Him. And "the sheep listen to his voice. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out" The good Shepherd has a personal relationship with every sheep which belongs to Him. Jesus personally knows every single one of His people and cares for the person. He knows you and me, and everything about us. He knows the anxiety we carry with us at different periods of our life. He knows our desires fulfilled and unfulfilled at times. He knows our happy days and sad moments. He knows the eternal purpose for us to go through every event and experience all feelings in our life. Since He designed our life to draw us to believe Him and honor Him.

When the good Shepherd has brought out all his sheep, "He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice." When Jesus lived in the world as a man, the Son of Man, He experienced human hunger, fatigue, family conflict, betrayal by friends and violence of enemies. Despite all of those, He lived a flawless life as the example for us who have so many flaws. He died as the atonement for us who committed so many sins. He used His life as example to show us how to live; He used His sacrificial death to give us desire to follow Him. He used His supernatural resurrection to give us the power to follow His lead. Jesus is always leading, always going ahead of us and always staying close to make sure we can hear His voice. Today His voice is recorded in the Bible which is so accessible to all people, including His sheep and His adversaries. Everyone who has heard Jesus' voice has to make a decision, to follow Him or not.

Jesus used the picture of a Shepherd to illustrate His relationship with His people. But the Pharisees "did not understand what he was telling them." So Jesus continued to illustrate using the sheep and Shepherd image. He said, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ... I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus is the only true Shepherd who will lead His people to reach their heavenly home. Jesus is also the only Gate of the heavenly home. No one can bypass Him. Everyone has to follow Him to reach there and pass through Him in order to get in. There is no other way into eternal life with God in His heaven except by Jesus, the Son of God.

Even more, Jesus said, "I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ... I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep." There is an organic, authentic and eternal relationship between the good Shepherd and His sheep, just as the most intimate, loving connection between the Son and His Father. Jesus came to do His Father's will and provide the eternal life He would give to His people. In order to fulfill His mission on earth, Jesus said, actually, He repeated, He would "lay down His life for" His people. He did what He said. He died on the cross to save His people. Jesus also revealed the reason behind His mission, He said, "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father." Jesus was confident of His Father's love and knew the Father's approval of His work. His obedience and submission to His Father was the foundational motive of everything He did for His people. We need to understand that our Lord's sacrifice for us was first in total devotion to His Father. He consciously chose to live as a man completely in His Father's will, but nevertheless, He possessed divine authority. He had divine will to "lay down" His life and He had divine power to "take it up" again. The miracle of His death and resurrection proved He is all what He said about Himself.

While He revealed He would die on behalf of His people, He gave another revelation, " I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd." Jesus came and spoke first to the Jews, but after His ascension into heaven to be with His Father, and His Spirit's descension on earth to dwell among His followers, His Spirit spoke through His apostles to Gentiles to bring them into God's family. Jesus makes all believers one flock.  People from all places, cultures and positions form one authentic, loving community through faith in Christ alone. He is the one and only Shepherd and we are the one and only flock.

After the Jews heard Jesus said, "This command I received from my Father." They were divided by their response to Jesus' claim. Many of them said, "He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?" But the others said, "These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" Jesus' claim of divinity is the dividing line of true faith, a line that divides those who will live with Him forever and those who will be separated from Him for eternity. On which side of the line do you stand?

At least three months later, Jesus delivered the second discourse in this chapter around "the Feast of Dedication", which is called Hanukkah today. It commemorates a big victory of Jews over their enemies and the rededication of the temple. This triumph might have stirred the Jews' longing for freedom from the Roman occupation and a desire for a powerful political deliverer. Jesus claimed to be Christ, the Messiah who was closely linked with the restoration of Israel to national glory. So the Jews asked Him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." It seemed they wanted to see truth plainly, but they could not see plain truth right in front of them. Jesus pointed out their problem with their poor sight, He said, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep." Many of the Jews, including the religious leaders, must have wondered how Jesus could act with such divine power and performed one miracle after another, and still be a mere human being. Up to that point, Jesus already explained to them over and over again that His glorious equality with God. Most of the Jews simply refused to believe Him. They chose not to believe Him but continued to demand Him to say something more about His identity to find fault with Him. Now Jesus explained their unbelief with plainly bold truth, "You do not believe because you are not my sheep." They were outsiders, not true sheep of the Father. And they proved this reality with their determination of unbelief. On the other hand, Jesus confirmed those who believe Him show they are God's people, His sheep by their determination to believe. Jesus said again, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." To listen to Jesus' voice means to continue to learn about His beautiful character and to live as He directs. Jesus knows and cares about everything in His followers' lives, and He leads them with His own wisdom and strength to enable them to follow Him. The sheep follow not a mere theory or philosophy, but the Shepherd who created, chose and called them to be His own flock.

Jesus said of His sheep, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." The Good Shepherd assured His people they can never lose their title as "His sheep" and the security of their salvation. Jesus promised that no one, even the devil, can steal away the secure position His people have with Him. He promised to keep them safe in His own hand. Jesus extended this strong promise, connecting it to His Father. He said, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." Jesus' followers are not secure by their human strength of their own little faith, or by the wisdom of their good choices. They rest firmly in the grip of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. No crushing circumstances or shameful failures can separate us from our Lord, the Good Shepherd, who sealed us with the Holy Spirit, engraved our names on the palms of His hands, and also wrote our names in the Book of Life, to secure us the privilege to belong to His Father's family.

Then Jesus reached the climactic claim: "I and the Father are one." This claim made sure that Jesus can do whatever He says. He says that His people are absolutely secure in His grip and will get eternal life. What good news? But not to the unbelievers, they will be judged as a result of their sinful choices. Jesus' startling claim of His oneness with the Father only provoked another murderous attack by the unbelieving Jews.

"Again, the Jews picked up stones to stone Him." They picked up stones to kill Him. As they raised their stones, Jesus asked, "I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?" The Jews answered that their problem was not His miracles but that He claimed to be God.  The Jews confused themselves with the proper point. Jesus' claim of His divine nature of being God and equality with God is always the essential point of faith and the core of true Christianity. They resented the divine truth that Jesus is the only Son of God who became a Man. They chose to accuse Jesus to be only a man who unlawfully invaded the unique status of the one true God by falsely exalting himself to the rank of deity. Jesus rebutted their accusation with two arguments. First, Jesus quoted Psalm 82:6. In that passage, God warned the unjust judges, "you are gods", to challenge them to live up to their holy vocation. God used the word "gods" to describe those judges because He appointed these men to do a work that belongs only to Himself, for God alone is the true Judge. Those judges could be co-workers only if they obeyed God's will. If God used "gods" to call those mere men, there is nothing wrong when Jesus says He is the Son of God since He is the only One. Second, Jesus argued with them, "Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."  Our Lord is so merciful; He understands His adversaries' difficulty in believing Him. He offers them the way to think clearly and eventually to believe Him. Here, He asked them to believe the signs, His miraculous works first. Since they knew what Jesus did so they couldn't deny Jesus' works. Starting from here, they should recognize what the signs pointed. They all pointed to what Jesus claimed, "the Father is in me, and I in the Father."  Have you seen any works of Jesus? Like a prayer answered, a person transformed, a commitment made, a view changed, a situation altered. If you do see one, why not let your faith advance to give Him the glory and honor He deserves?

After Jesus' forceful, stunning claim to deity, again, the religious leaders "tried to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp." The Lord clearly had the power to prevent any enemy from doing Him harm, until it was His Father's will and timing. The Lord always protects His people in the same way so we can have peace that no one can harm us without His permission.

"Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early day. Here He stayed and many people came to Him." Despite the fact that His enemies seemed increasingly bold against Him, His "true sheep" still heard His voice and followed Him. Listening to the Lord's voice in Bible will increasingly bring discernment that prevents deceit from false teaching. The true sheep of God continue to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him into new life today and forevermore. 

At the place where many people first listened to John the Baptist, they couldn't help but realize that, "Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true. And in that place many believed in Jesus."  The one who shared the story of Jesus with you doesn't have to have any miraculous power. But the story that person told you is down to earth true. Jesus' story is true in all details. Are you listening? Please pay attention to the voice which is telling Jesus' story by filtering all other distracting voices. The Lord will help you understand His story and make you act on what you hear. He will lead you to follow Him, like the Shepherd will lead His sheep.